Prime Time

Struggling mightily in the ratings this fall, NBC plans to overhaul its prime-time schedule at midseason, adding four series, moving four others to new time slots and benching "Community" and "Prime Suspect. " Joining the NBC schedule in January will be returning series "30 Rock" and newcomers "The Firm," based on John Grisham's novel but set 10 years after the events of the book and its movie adaptation, and "Are You There, Chelsea?," a comedy inspired by comic Chelsea Handler.

When he takes command of CBS' "Late Show" next year, Stephen Colbert will have to battle the two Jimmys, Fallon and Kimmel. But he'll also square off against a robot chicken, a mad scientist and a talking hamburger. From the humblest of beginnings 13 years ago - one early offering was made with microphones purchased at Radio Shack - Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's nighttime block, has a powerful hold on one of the most highly sought-after populations around: young men. Adult Swim's mostly animated shows - among them hits such as "Robot Chicken," "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" spinoffs and the new "Rick and Morty" - rely on absurdist, often surreal humor, and they're making it harder than ever for the growing crowd of chat shows featuring celebrities hawking their latest movie.

CNN unveiled a new prime-time schedule to advertisers Thursday that further moves the cable channel away from a reliance on hard news and political chat. Most significantly, CNN is getting out of the talk show game in the 9 p.m. hour, a crucial time slot for cable news channels and one where the network has struggled for years. Instead, CNN will rotate between original series and documentaries. CNN once owned that hour when "Larry King Live" was a must for politicians and newsmakers.

Megyn Kelly is moving to prime time. The longtime anchor of the popular Fox News daytime show "America Live" will get an evening show when she returns from maternity leave, the network said. What Fox News didn't say is what Kelly's show will be and where it will air. Fox News has long-term deals in place with its other prime-time stars including Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll There has been speculation that Kelly may take the 10 p.m. slot on Fox News that is currently held by Greta Van Susteren.

Cam Newton laid a giant egg on national TV on Thursday night. That can't be debated. The Carolina Panthers quarterback and reigning NFL rookie of the year threw three interceptions and finished with a career-low passer rating of 40.6 in a 36-7 loss to the New York Giants in his prime-time debut. But it could have been worse for Newton. He completed 53% of his passes (16 of 30), which isn't great but is better than three of his outings during his much-heralded season a year ago. He also compiled 242 passing yards, which tops nine of his efforts from last season.

The comedian formerly known as "the domestic goddess" may be returning to prime time. Roseanne Barr, whose "Roseanne" is one of TV's most iconic comedies, is developing a comedy for NBC in which she would star. She is working on the project with producer Steven Greener, who worked with Barr in 2011 on the Lifetime reality series "Roseanne's Nuts. " The show marks Barr's second attempt at an NBC series. The network last year passed on her show "Downwardly Mobile," which she had developed and featured her as the proprietor of a mobile home park.

KCAL news anchor Pat Harvey can still recall her edgy excitement generated decades ago by not only the imminent launch of an ambitious and historic broadcast but also by widespread predictions of failure. It was March 5, 1990, as the now veteran broadcaster positioned herself behind the anchor desk, the focus of a sparkling new set on a Paramount Studios sound stage. After months of planning, a rash of hirings and upgrades that cost more than $30 million, she was on the front lines of an unprecedented experiment -- a nightly three-hour newscast.

Could this be the year for hand-held television? It's been tried before, but so far TV, unlike just about all other digital entertainment devices, has not successfully been shrunk to a pocket-size format. But there are a couple of new candidates. Now available is Flo TV, a personal television with a 3 1/2 -inch screen. And later this year a host of portable devices using a new standard for mobile digital TV will arrive. Attempts at hand-held TV go back to at least the late 1970s when English entrepreneur Clive Sinclair -- whose other inventions included a lightweight folding bicycle -- introduced the Microvision MTV1.

After unsuccessfully lobbying ABC, NBC and CBS to rearrange their prime-time schedules, organizers of the Republican National Convention announced today that Ann Romney's keynote speech would be moved to Tuesday night. On Monday night, the networks will air reruns of “Castle,” “Grimm” and “Hawaii Five-O,” respectively. Viewers interested in hearing remarks by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will have to turn elsewhere.

Prime-time television dramas are less smoke friendly than they were in the 1950s. According to a study published online in the journal Tobacco Control on Thursday, there has been a dramatic decline in visibility of tobacco products on prime-time U.S. broadcast television. Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania determined this drop in portrayals of smoking and tobacco use in prime-time dramas mirrored the national decline in consumption.

Kate O'Mara, 74, a British actress best known for her role as Caress Morrell, sister to Joan Collins' Alexis Colby, in the 1980s prime-time soap opera "Dynasty," died Sunday at a nursing home in southern England after a short illness, according to her agent, Phil Belfield. The actress, who began her television career in the 1960s, is remembered by many for her role in "Triangle" - a soap opera set aboard a North Sea ferry that is often cited as the worst piece of British television.

NBC's Sochi Olympics prime-time coverage featuring figure skating, freestyle skiing, speed skating and skeleton pulled in an average of 22.9 million viewers Thursday, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen. That's down 9% from the comparable night of the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Canada, which were covered live. In the advertiser-preferred 18-49 age group, Thursday night's coverage earned a rating of 5.9, down 17% from four years ago. A ratings point equals about 1.3 million viewers in the 18-49 category.

I'm at "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" the other day, cradling a drink the size of Marlon Brando, 40 corpulent ounces of sugar water priced higher than Texas crude. If this thing capsizes, I may well drown. This 40-ounce Coke is considered a "medium. " Presumably, the next size up is Lake Powell. Why so much soft drink? It's part of my test of a quirky movie app that tells you the best time to take a bathroom break. In this age of ever-longer movies (and ever-smaller bladders)

Ratings for "Survivor's" finale Sunday hit a low, while the NFL led the night. The last episode of "Survivor: Blood vs. Water," the 27th cycle in the reality series' run, drew 10.2 million viewers and a rating of 2.5 in the key 18-49 age demographic for the episode that resulted in Tyson Apostol's victory. Viewership among those advertiser-coveted young adults fell 22% compared with last fall's comparable episode, marking the lowest rating...

Bob Costas will serve as host for NBC's prime-time and late-night coverage of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Costas has been prime-time host for every NBC-covered Olympic Games since 1992, including the 2012 London Games, which was the most-watched TV event in U.S. history with more than 217 million viewers. With his 2014 assignment, Costas becomes U.S. television's first 10-time Olympic prime-time host. Jim McKay hosted the Olympics eight times for ABC. This will be the second time that Costas has hosted both the prime-time and late-night Olympic coverage.

Fox News is shuffling its prime-time lineup to make room for Megyn Kelly, who is moving there from daytime. Kelly's new show "The Kelly File," is being given the plum 9 p.m. Eastern time slot. The current occupant of that hour, Sean Hannity, will move to 10 p.m. and Greta Van Susteren will go to 7 p.m. to replace Shep Smith's evening newscast. The only show staying in place is "The O'Reilly Factor," hosted by Bill O'Reilly. FALL TV 2013: Watch the trailers The new lineup will take effect Oct. 7, which happens to be the 17th annniversary of the launch of Fox News.

Does cable TV's business-news leader CNBC have what it takes to make it in prime time? We'll find out on Tuesday night when the network, known for attracting millions of affluent, educated viewers during the day with its minute-by-minute live coverage of Wall Street and the financial sector, ventures into uncharted territory with a new prime-time reality programming block. Dubbed “CNBC Prime,” the two-hour unscripted block will begin at 9 p.m. with “Treasure Detectives,” in which art and antiques expert Curtis Dowling investigates the authenticity of high-value collectibles such as a mug said to have belonged to John Lennon.

With a "Sunday Night Football" showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints, NBC had no trouble breezing past the other major broadcast networks. According to early numbers from Nielsen, which are subject to change because the results are not adjusted for time zones, the game drew 19.3 million viewers and a rating of 7.0 in the key 18-49 age demographic in prime time. In the advertiser-desired demo, "Sunday Night Football" improved 23% from the early numbers from last week's game. Overall, NBC had a preliminary rating of 5.7 in 18-49, in which a ratings point equals about 1.3 million viewers, easily outpacing its nearest broadcast competitor, CBS, which brought in a 3.0. PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of movies and TV The game itself wasn't much of a nail-biter either, as Drew Brees ' Saints smashed Tony Romo's Cowboys 49-17. We won't know until later how it stacked up against AMC's "The Walking Dead," which has been beating the NBC football games in the demographic.

Television has a split image: one by day and another by night. In the daytime, blacks and other people of color are a prominent presence, hosting popular talk shows and playing juicy roles in soap operas. But at night, minorities are largely sidelined, with white performers holding most of the marquee roles. The industry's Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to diversity is underscored by the controversy engulfing NBC's "Saturday Night Live. " The sketch comedy series came under fire from within its own ranks and from outside observers who decried the show's long-standing lack of ethnic diversity.